The UK National Screening Committee needs reliable evidence to decide which screening programmes—such as those for newborn conditions or cancers—should be offered to the public, and the Sheffield Evidence Network for Screening Synthesis (SENSS) will provide that evidence. Screening decisions affect millions of people, yet the underlying science is often incomplete or contested. The UK NSC must weigh benefits, harms, costs, and practical feasibility before recommending a new screening test or changing an existing one. SENSS will produce systematic reviews, health economic models, and evidence maps that give the committee the rigorous, up-to-date synthesis it needs to make those judgments. If SENSS succeeds, the UK’s screening programmes will rest on stronger foundations. The group’s work could lead to earlier detection of diseases, fewer unnecessary tests and treatments, and more efficient use of NHS resources. Because the team includes patient representatives and experts in communicating findings, the results will also be accessible to clinicians, policymakers, and the public. This is applied, policy-facing research—its impact will be felt directly in the screening decisions that shape preventive healthcare across the UK.
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Background The UK National Screening Committee (UK NSC) provides evidence-based advice to ministers and the NHS across the four UK nations regarding screening programmes. The NIHR wishes to commission three specialised Evidence Synthesis Groups (ESGs) to carry out evidence synthesis to support the work of the UK NSC. Aims and objectives The Sheffield Evidence Network for Screening Synthesis (SENSS) group will provide a flexible and responsive ESG to undertake evidence synthesis for the UK NSC, including: evidence maps, evidence summaries (rapid reviews), systematic reviews, health economic scoping work, cost effectiveness models, and methods development. Methods Our highly experienced, multi-disciplinary team includes systematic reviewers, cost-effectiveness modellers, statisticians, information specialists, data managers, PPI representatives and dissemination experts. We have extensive experience of screening evidence synthesis and modelling for the UK NSC and other funders, especially in newborn and cancer screening. Our team includes a partnership of an experienced PPI co-applicant and an academic PPI lead. We will set up a Strategic PPI Advisory Group, and will convene project-specific networks of clinical experts and patient groups. The programme will be supported by Data Connect (https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/data-connect), providing secure access to patient level routine health datasets. We can demonstrate extensive experience in managing large Evidence Synthesis programmes for the NIHR, including our EnSygN Evidence Synthesis Group, SCHARR Technology Assessment Group, Health Services and Delivery Research Programme and Public Health Research Programme. Overall programme management will be overseen by the two Programme Co-Directors (the Lead Modeller and Lead Reviewer). Many of our team have considerable experience of working together on synthesis and modelling projects. For each project, we will develop a protocol in collaboration with the UK NSC specifying the detailed methods, timelines, PPI and expert network involvement, and dissemination plan. Experienced project leads will oversee the methodological approach and project milestones. Draft reports will be shared with the UK NSC and key experts, and internally peer reviewed by an experienced colleague. We will build on our track record of developing methods for evidence synthesis and modelling specific to screening. We hope to collaborate with the nine ESGs and the other Specialist NSC ESGs to develop and share best practice. Anticipated impact and dissemination We will collaborate with the UK NSC Evidence Team, our PPI groups and topic experts to develop a tailored dissemination plan for each project. This will outline dissemination of findings to the UK NSC; the national and international policy domain; to the research community; and to patient, public and clinical expert groups. Two of our co-investigators currently work on the NIHR Knowledge for Public Health Team and bring cutting edge experience in diverse methods for communicating research findings. Dissemination activities will include: reports to the UK NSC with a Plain English Summary; open access publication in high impact journals; tailored slides and short summaries for discussion at relevant meetings and workshops; and innovative and targeted initiatives such as social media outputs; videos; evidence briefings and infographics.
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